The present invention relates generally to disposable absorbent articles such as a diaper, a training pant, or an incontinence pant.
Disposable absorbent articles are increasingly popular products. Use of disposable diapers and training pants now exceeds, by far, the use of cloth diapers. Further, advancements made in the design of disposable feminine hygiene product have produced products which offer improved comfort and utility and, thus, the use of these products have also increased. Advancements have also been made in the design of disposable adult incontinence products which are designed to control and absorb involuntarily bowel and bladder discharge associated with many medical conditions.
Disposable diapers are designed with structural features intended to enhance fit, comfort, and/or minimize leakage. In this regard, various structural designs have been developed and incorporated into diapers. For example, disposable diapers may have standing inner leg cuffs which are combined with elastic leg gatherers, such as the structures disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,704,116 to Enloe, and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,278 to Lawson. In these structural designs, the leg cuffs and elastic leg gatherers are designed to work together so as to retain waste within a central core portion of the diaper. In another variation, a pair of xe2x80x98Txe2x80x99-shaped cuffs are disposed longitudinally on either side of the central core (see e.g., U.K. Patent Application No. 2,216,393).
These prior art designs have been effective to varying degrees in containing discharge from a wearer""s body. The complexity in these structural designs also vary and may require multiple fabrication steps. For example, cuff/elastic gatherer combinations require the creation of both a cuff and an elastic gatherer which must be separately applied and which must be engineered to work together. xe2x80x9cTxe2x80x9d-shaped cuffs generally require additional engineering and manufacturing expense to place a xe2x80x9cTxe2x80x9d-shaped elasticized gasket upon a distal edge of a cuff. In an alternate design that is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,643,243 to Klemp, a diaper is provided with elasticized unitary cuffs. Each unitary cuff includes multiple strands of elastic material and provides the sole elasticizing means for containing waste within the crotch region of the diaper.
Many of these diapers and other garments are also designed with an hourglass contoured shape which improves the fit and comfort of the diaper. A disadvantage of such contoured garments is that their design generally requires the use of complex high precision machinery to form necessary intricate shapes, thereby significantly increasing the production cost associated with the garment. Moreover, many of these garments are formed from rectangular absorbent articles, typically cut in assembly line fashion from moving webs. To form a garment from such a rectangular piece of absorbent material, material is typically cut away from the longitudinal edges of the absorbent article and discarded during formation of the leg holes. While such contoured garments generally provide a more comfortable fit, these garments may be prone to leakage along the edges of the contoured region.
It is one of several features and objects of the present invention to provide an improved disposable absorbent article.
It is another feature and object of the invention to provide at least one such disposable absorbent article characterized by improved containment capabilities and/or structural features adapted to minimize leakage.
It is yet another feature and an object of the present invention to provide at least one such disposable article having a containment structure for the purpose of receiving, capturing and/or retaining body exudates.
Therefore, in accordance with one aspect of the invention, a disposable absorbent article having a front waist region, a back waist region, and a crotch region located between the waist regions is provided. The inventive disposable absorbent article includes a backsheet, an absorbent core disposed generally in the waist region and above the backsheet, and a topsheet disposed above the absorbent core. The topsheet is equipped with a plurality of openings for directing bodily exudates, which are received into or by the crotch region, to a storage space disposed below the topsheet.
In one embodiment of the invention, the topsheet is spaced generally upward from the core, such that the storage space is disposed between the topsheet and the core.
Such a storage space is adapted for storage of the generally solids portion of the bodily exudates (e.g., fecal matter). In an alternative embodiment, the disposable absorbent article employs a plurality of cores (e.g., a plurality of spaced apart elongated segmented cores) and the topsheet and the cores are arranged such that the storage space (s) is generally formed below the cores. Further, portions of the topsheet may be tacked down between these cores and each of the openings generally located between the cores.
In another aspect of the present invention, the disposable absorbent article includes a material layer (e.g., an acquisition and distribution layer) that is disposed between the storage space and the core. The material layer is adapted for receiving liquids and distributing the liquids across the core.
The inventive disposable article may further include at least one or more elongated elastic strands which are attached to the topsheet so as to space or urge the topsheet generally upwardly from the core. Portions of the topsheet located between the elastic strands may be tacked down to create depressions between the strands, and each of the openings may be located generally in one of these depressions. Each of the openings preferably has a lateral width that is substantially less than the lateral distance between the strands. Further, the topsheet may include generally inclined side walls which are directed downwardly from the ridges to the openings.
Alternatively, the disposable absorbent article is provided with a generally upstanding sidewall structure on each lateral side of the crotch region. The topsheet and the core are disposed between the sidewall structures, while the topsheet has side edges extended to and engaging the sidewall structures
In another aspect of the invention, a disposable absorbent article is provided having a front waist region, a back waist region, and a crotch region located between the front and back waist regions. The disposable absorbent article includes a backsheet, an absorbent core disposed above the backsheet (generally in the crotch region), and a topsheet disposed above the absorbent core. The topsheet is equipped with a plurality of spaced apart elastic strands and a plurality of openings. The strands are attached to the topsheet to form a plurality of spaced apart ridges and adapted to bias the topsheet upwardly. Further, certain portions of the topsheet between the strands are tacked down (e.g., to an acquisition layer or the backsheet) to form depressions between the ridges. The openings are located between these ridges (e.g., in the depressions) and are adapted to direct bodily exudates (which are received in the crotch region) toward the core. Moreover, the topsheet may be spaced generally upward from the core to define at least one storage space therebetween. Such a storage space is particularly adapted to receive and store the solids portions of the bodily exudates.
In yet another aspect of the invention, a disposable absorbent article is provided with a pair of longitudinally extending side edges and a pair of end edges which define a front waist region, a back waist region, and a crotch region located between the front and back waist regions. The inventive disposable absorbent article includes a backsheet layer, an absorbent core disposed above the backsheet and generally in the crotch region, and a topsheet. The topsheet has a plurality of openings and is spaced generally upward from the core (e.g., by elastic strands attached to the topsheet) to define a storage space between the core and the topsheet. The disposable absorbent article further includes a containment pocket having a depth dimension. This containment pocket is disposed generally in the crotch region and is bounded by a substantially continuous containment wall that extends generally upwardly from the topsheet. The openings of the topsheet are disposed inside of the containment wall and are adapted to direct exudates received in the containment pocket (i.e., above the topsheet) into the storage space below the topsheet.
Preferably, the containment wall has two elastic end wall sections and two side intermediate wall sections. Each of the elastic end wall sections has a central portion and oppositely disposed side portions and each of the intermediate wall sections has oppositely disposed end portions. The side portions of the elastic wall sections are secured to an end portion of one of the intermediate wall sections such that the intermediate wall sections are biased generally upwardly. Further, the disposable absorbent article may include an end strip secured generally to each of the waist regions. The end strips include elastic inward sections which are spaced away from the topsheet and form the elastic wall sections of the containment wall.
Other and further objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the description provided herein of presently preferred embodiments of the invention, given for the purpose of disclosure, and taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.